The Moment That Encapsulates Phoenix’s Love

It doesn’t take long to see how much the South East Melbourne Phoenix love each other.

Use the final moments of Sunday’s big win over the Illawarra Hawks as an example. With two minutes left in the 34-point victory Anzac Rissetto made his NBL debut to the backdrop of a cheering Phoenix bench and a raucous home crowd.

In Rissetto’s 1:42 second stint he hit three free-throws, much to the delight of the entire stadium.

Phoenix leader Mitch Creek, who was celebrating his 300th game, explained how the reaction to Rissetto’s debut encapsulated the mood around South East Melbourne’s lockeroom.

“Anzac touched the floor tonight, how pumped the entire crowd was, they were more excited about that then any other milestone, because he gives so much energy,” Creek said.

“Sauce (Alan Williams) does the same, but from on the court, so when you have that infectious energy, it just bleeds with this group and we get results.

“It’s a good way to play basketball because he enjoys it. That’s how we feed off of each other so well.”

After joining the Phoenix as a development player for NBL23 Anzac Rissetto made his NBL debut in Round 8.

Creek added how he and other Phoenix leaders are helping guide South East Melbourne’s energy, which is becoming a trademark for the team.

“When it gets a little bit skewed south, that’s when we expect Simon, myself, Rowdy (Ryan Broekhoff), Kyle (Adnam) to pull it in and say, hey, it’s okay, we got this. But that kind of energy is infectious in the group,” he said.

The Phoenix have been in the league for four seasons, with coach Simon Mitchell and Creek being with the club since the start. The two have developed a family-like relationship and Creek says the culture of the club has been laid by the coach.

“It’s a credit to Simon and the one bazillion hours he puts in, in the offseason the man didn’t take a day off all offseason,” Creek said of Mitchell.

“It’s a credit to the pieces he’s added to this team and to this franchise.He’s got guys in now that complement us really well and we’re all flowing in the same direction.”

The Phoenix play the top of the ladder New Zealand Breakers on Thursday at 5:30pm AEDT.